The Abandoned Waterpark of Hue

A spooky actioned packed morning or afternoon can be spent at the abandoned waterpark of Hue for a small and budget friendly admission fee of only $.50. Spend a few hours or an entier day at Thuy Tien Lake, exploring buildings, aquariums, and giant slides which once had the hopes of ushering in thousands of visitors a day, but now stands empty and desolute.

Getting There: situated on Thuy Tien Lake, it’s about 15km outside of Hue and best accessed by motorbike or a rented energy bicycle.

Costs: pay the security guard at the entrance 10,000 VND

Suggested Time: anytime of day is good, easy to spend a couple of hours cruising around the eerie park

As soon as I’d heard of an abandoned water park that cost $3 million to build and shut down after only 3 years it was quickly on the top of my list of things to do in Hue. I love abandoned places, there is something strangely beautiful about the eeriness of an abandoned building, and a water park is not something you come across everyday.

Designed as a family theme park, complete with aquariums, water slides, an amphitheatre and even crocodiles, it really is a travesty that Hue’s waterpark was not the success the town had hoped it would be. I’d heard rumours that when the owner abandoned the park he also left the crocodiles to fend for themselves and they’d now taken over the lake. Unfortunately may years later however, there are no crocodiles to be seen on the premises; rumor has it that they were all rescued and taken to a wildlife center.

There used to be an heir of mystery to this place but in recent years it has taken off in popularity, to the point where if you type ‘abandoned water park Hue’ into Google Maps it will come up with directions to the site! Nonetheless, the waterpark is still abandoned with only one security guard at the gates, and is an eery and budget worthy at only $.50 cents admission.

The star of the show is the dragon structure in the middle of the lake, 20+ meters in height with a hollowed out body, you can climb all through the structure into the mouth of the dragon. Inside the dragon is where the aquarium used to be housed, so there are empty tanks all over the place with random statues of sealife. It was completely empty when I was there which only heightened the creepiness, ambling through the desolate corridors half expecting a crocodile to jump out at you was thrilling.

The amphitheater at the north of the site is equally spooky. It’s like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie where some kind of natural disaster has forced everyone to suddenly leave the park and never return. All the seats are still intact and there is a swimming pool where they would have had sealife shows, even the safes where they kept money can be seen in some small offices beneath the seating. Vandalism at the abandoned site is apparent, where you can see locals have hoisted remnants from the site, and some have even tried to break into the safes.

As this park is abandoned there are pretty much no rules as to what you can and can’t do. I was riding my motorbike all around the park, whether it was on paved areas or overgrown grass tracks there was no limit to where I could drive which only made it more exciting. There are also three water slides that you can climb up and take some incredible photos, just don’t slide down them; the water is stagnant and filty brown. Plantlife has started to reclaim the waterslides adding to the apocalyptic feel of the place.

I loved exploring Thuy Tien water park, it’s not so much a secret anymore but it doesn’t detract from the eeriness and haunted feel of the entire place. Dedicate a good few hours to exploring the entire site and rest assured there are no crocodiles anymore or spooky creatures hiding within the park!

To watch my entire day in Hue just press play! To watch beginning with the waterpark, skip to 6:59 of the video!